The unending joy of absolute Liberation.

I feel like I'm having a bit of an epiphany today, so I thought it might be worth sharing with my ATS brethren.

Some background:

I believe that I have, like Jacob from the Bible wrestled with God. I've been goaded, I've been passive aggressive in my search for absolute love
(that's funny). I've been through the ringer you might say (as I'm sure have many of you). I've had not one dark night of the soul, but at least
FOUR of them! (that's funny too) I've been through spiritual crisis, I've even been deluded and psychotic (but in a meaningful way). I've woken up
with night terrors and under spiritual attack. Forces of good and evil have buffeted me, chasing me as I've run this way and that to and fro, causing
me to rebel and to fall, to get up and climb to the top of the mountain only to fall again (what goes up must come down). "Been there done that got
the t-shirt" as they say. All in all you could say that I am mad, touched, but in a good way, and let's face it we are all "touched" each in our
own way, and we are all mentally ill to a greater or lessor degree (some of us moreso than others), lacking as it were in perfect mental health and
well being (from "The Road Less Traveled" by M.Scott Peck MD).

But after running the maze over and over again, and after countless turns of the hamster wheel, and seemingly without reward, we may find eventually
(I'm 47 now with my first spiritual "crackup" occurring when I was 29), that we do receive the final reward, which when it comes, at last, comes in
the form of a sense of absolute freedom (Liberation with a capital L) and acceptance, whereby we accept what is as it is, and become accepted
ourselves, reintegrated you might say (since we were on the outside before, desperately trying to tunnel our way in), and then we sight and laugh at
ourselves and realize that this new domain of Liberation and self acceptance and self love (the love of love?) places no constraints upon us and no
limitations on the possible range of our human experience as we really are. It's like a discontinuous, instantaneous switch between what was
inauthentic relative to what is real and true and more freely self expressed - without opposition.

Nothing opposes me any more.

There is nothing to fear. I need not even be afraid of being afraid, and if I need to fear then I'm also free to that until there is no fear again.

There's no more need to even take myself all that seriously any more, and so my humor and charm is restored.

I'm free to jump in the air clicking my heals and sing an absurd song in the midst of an urban center thronged with mindless and self-occupied
hoards, and make a fool of myself on everyone's behalf, if I so choose.

There is no more evil, and no power or principality which has any interest in coming against me, because I've already been tested, and have tested
the spirits.

He who loves God is loved by God, and if God is for us then who or what can stand against us.

This then is the flow of life, having no opposition it flows freely but in an entirely non-coercive, invitational manner, it's non-dual and it's an
immediate present moment experience of the domain of absolute, unconstrained and unfettered freedom of potential human expression and personal
experience, so it's like suddenly discovering one's true self as a new self where "new wine goes into new wineskins".

It's funny, because of what we had to go through to get there, but it was there all along and we were merely deluded, or, maybe the "hero's
journey" does require the desert experience, the dark night of the soul, the attacks, the defeats and the triumphs, to really be appreciated for what
it is and represents, as a gateway access point into a new life and a whole new outlook on one's self, others and the glorious world we inhabit.

I think it's an idea whose time has come, which is uniquer each to own's own personal spiritual experience while at the same time ALSO being a human
experience that we are all sharing and exploring together, each from our own angles and perspectives.

But the light of the real reality tunnel on the other side of our deluded ones, it's not a thought, but an experience, of absolute Liberation.

Best Regards,

NAM
Associate member of the Messianic Division of the Mad Pride Movement (not to
be confused with Gay Pride not that there's anything wrong with that).

I wish the same kind of thing for you, but in such a way that it won't take you almost 20 years to realize and experience for yourself. So that's
the purpose of the OP really, is to help you see that a total paradigm shift and new way of life is possible, maybe even an actuality since when it
happens and becomes real knowledge it's the self knowledge of personal experience, like ah "ah HA!" moment of epiphany, like what I've been
feeling today.

May you find what you seek and may it find you sooner rather than later.

God Bless,

NAM
February 6th, 2013 (not that that really means anything, any more).

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who
wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

~ Revelation 22:17

And no, that doesn't make this a theology thread, since I'm talking about an invitation to jump into and experience the flow of life as it is (same
diff) which is a domain of limitless and eternal possibility and therefore of eternal life, starting now. It is non-coercive and invitational only,
and that's the beauty of it, how it's the free gift, and the reward at the end of one history and the beginning of a new one as an enlightened
Renascence at the end of a very dark age that appears to be getting ever darker before the dawn (that's funny too).

No, in terms of what is of value, the tormented nature of a self-obsessed modern culture would disappear (in gales of laughter at it's absurdity and
ignorance), and God would become apparent and realized/recognized.

"I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put
my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people"

"Life is a Mighty Joke. He who knows this can hardly be understood by others. He who does not know it finds himself in a state of delusion. He
may ponder over this problem day and night, but will find himself incapable of knowing it. Why? People take life seriously, and God lightly;
whereas we must take God seriously, and take life lightly. Then, we know that we always were the same and will ever remain the same.......the
Originator of this joke. This knowledge is not acheived by reasoning.
But it is the knowledge of experience."

~ Meher Baba

What I'm talking about is the ability to laugh along with God at our prior ignorance and absurdity, and it's in this humor of understanding which
brings us closer to God whose own immaculate sense of irony and humor is without parallel. I disagree with Meher Baba that getting the joke makes us
the Originator of it, only that it allows us to recognize and experience a shared koinonia WITH God,
in the framework of a mutually shared, intimate, participatory relationship with the Beloved and between the Beloved and Beloved other i.e. in
making his home with us with we his people and he our God.

"So do not be afraid little ones, nor let your hearts be troubled, and be of good cheer! for it pleased the father (first father of creation) to
share his kingdom with all his children!" (the Good News).

You misread what I was trying to describe as the needed paradigm shift by which mankind might begin to pass across the keystone and over the royal
archway into a new domain of everlasting life and freedom.

I guess I'm talking about the realization of God as a domain of absolute liberation, although for me personally I defer to a higher power and maintain
what might be called an indispensable I-thou relationship with God as the Absolute, or originating center and source of life, or a first/last cause as
the object to which my gratitude for inclusion in life is extended, but to each his own and God would not have it any other way.

So the focal point here isn't on varying conceptions of God but in the recognition of the space of freedom within which the human being is given
sovereign access, not as a "thing" but as an intrinsic part of an evolutionary process at all levels including an eventual involution and journey of
self discovery involving not the gross or material body, but the subtle body who's domain is expansive and ideally without constraint or limitation as
an endless possibility for spiritual and psychological growth and well being, including states of harmony and bliss and joy in the triumph of the
Liberation relative to which there is and can be no opposition.

"There is nothing that the universe loves more, than courage."
~ Terrance McKenna

So that's the purpose of the OP really, is to help you see that a total paradigm shift and new way of life is possible

You're confused...

If a Paradigm Shift were to occur with the current group think invading today's cultures, god would disappear...

Careful what you ask for zealot.

You know, based on what I wrote and my intentionality, that's an absurd response, and I cannot believe how many stars you got for it.

Maybe the cynicism is part of the problem..?

God is never in jeopardy anyway, another absurd contention. God vanishing or being somehow killed off, that doesn't make any sense at all.

We need and MUST start to seek out and to find God and be found in eternity and when we do, that's the paradigm shift, but the self-centered "I"
doesn't want that, it wants business as usual and the status quo, so it's final exclamation might be that to make the shift God will surely die!
That's hilarious and ridiculous. Who is really saying that..?

What if the paradigm shift never happens? Isn't that when God starts to seem evermore inaccessible and absent i.e.: dead?

More and more we must release from all our attachments, even to our own life as it is, so that we can rediscover it in the resurrected life. And in
the new life, looking back, all the junk stuff can be seen for what it is much of which makes for excellent comedic material at the expense of all our
prior ignorance and absurdity.

And as to the sins of the world and all those ills and rampant ignorance (and the cynicism it evokes), these becomes merely disagreeable things, but
we ought to oppose them "lightly" and at a distance lest we give up our very Liberation before we've even had an opportunity to explore it's
expansiveness, whereby absolute acceptance and forgiveness is the gateway of absolute freedom.

Dualism as the opposing forces between a perceived absolute good vs..absolute evil, that's the last battle and I've come to discover, time and time
again, that it's a battle that was already won and that I do not need to fight all over again, what a waste of time and energy that would be..

That thing Watts felt he saw in the back of Jung's mind (Hintergendanke) twinkling in his eye as an irascible mischievousness (accepted), it's not an
easy thing to acquire. but once it's there, it can never be lost because once the mind and heart changes shape it can never go back to it's original
configuration and thank heaven for that.

"Resist not evil."
~ Jesus

In hindsight, all my madness and insanity arose from a faulty conception based in strong duality, and I guess what I'm driving at is the idea that
eventually, after we've fought the good fight, if we are strong minded and strong-hearted and strong willed enough (as long as we don't completely
implode), opposition eventually yields to re-integration, and division and separation gives way to reconciliation and a unifying principal of love
capable of altogether transcending the sins of the world and the absurdity of all the injustices, and all the sorrows, heartache and shame, trials and
tribulations, ignorance darkness. And that's the kind of thing capable of putting a smile back on a person's face.

It's the everlasting joy and laughter and love after all the tears have come to an end, like the very hand of God capable of wiping those tears away
from our eyes with a shared smile, along with I might add, a sense of irony and humor that is outside of our "normal" experience. So if I could, that
is what I would like to share with others, so that we each might become like the candlestick that is taken out from under the bushel basket and placed
out on the lampstand giving light to all in the house (yet without having to self consciously draw attention to that light ie: letting it shine of its
own accord).

It's a pretty dark world, especially these days. Oh what an honor it is therefore to be like a candle in the darkness so that others who live in
darkness upon seeing your light will know that what's done is done in God who transcends the duality with unparalleled goodness and without any loss
of love, even humor and charm in the understanding of absolute forgiveness.

Because you see - unless, at the end of all our conflicts, both internal and external, we can come to fully and completely accept and love (and
forgive) ourselves, good and bad, as God completely accepts and loves and forgives us (the whole of us as we are), we cannot love our neighbor as
ourself and are not entirely free to do so, where love to BE love cannot be real love, unless it is free.

"Set free for the sake of freedom, to freely love as we are loved."
~ St. Paul

It's "offensive" only really to the degree that the best defense (of love) is a good offense lol, but it's only offensive when we remain divided,
either within ourselves or in opposition to the evil without. "Resist not evil."

And this is from direct experience, to the nth degree and to the moon (loony) and back again, take it as you will, or not.

But surely four dark nights of the soul are good for something! That was my hope and prayer anyway, to save you the headache of a perilous journey
fraught with the possibility of destruction. And if I can come through such an experience with flying colors, so can you but maybe without the need
for any hospitalization!

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
...we do receive the final reward, which when it comes, at last, comes in the form of a sense of absolute freedom (Liberation with a capital L) and
acceptance, whereby we accept what is as it is, and become accepted ourselves, reintegrated you might say (since we were on the outside before,
desperately trying to tunnel our way in), and then we sight and laugh at ourselves and realize that this new domain of Liberation and self acceptance
and self love (the love of love?) places no constraints upon us and no limitations on the possible range of our human experience as we really are.
It's like a discontinuous, instantaneous switch between what was inauthentic relative to what is real and true and more freely self expressed -
without opposition.

Nothing opposes me any more.

Ok, so now I have a question. How can you completely accept what is AND have self-acceptance? If you accept what is then there is nothing that needs
to happen, everything is perfect as it is, but if there were so, there would be no need for intentions/goals.

If you accept yourself, then you would accept your natural desires, but if you accept your natural desires then you do not accept reality as a desire
is changing reality to some extent.

Are you saying that the perspective which gave you a deep feeling of acceptance/joy/freedom was loving freedom itself? Loving the fact that all of
this was allowed to happen? (I ask for clarity on your original thought).

It's a new creation and a new creativity capable of differentiating between being inauthentic and dead, and, real and alive again, and in that
"domain" (of absolute freedom) all things become possible, again, so it's like a fresh start and a clean slate wherein we can be true to ourselves and
authentic and only from this POV and frame of reference (being really real and alive ie: authentic and true to self as we really are) do we even have
the opportunity to be creative and to really love, and live.

Everything else either falls away or is immensely weakened and destined to fall in this light of truth because it is utterly absurd by comparison - so
ours really is a candle in the darkness lighting the way.

And what we are creating is who we are being at any given moment, that's the fulcrum right there, and out of that as a first/last cause, everything
that's worthwhile including all those things we used to hold dear, come back into view as the scales fall from our eyes.

I cannot force other people however to laugh or cry or do both, but if that would generate more space and freedom and possibility in the domain of
human being, that is the creative act that I'd like to be participating in.

Liberated to do WHAT exactly? Well that's a wonderful question to have the luxury of asking. We can create with great creative power in any direction
we want, once liberated.

What truly motivates and inspires us in the space of nothing as it were or on the unconditioned ground of all being and becoming, that's the question
posed to the one who "completes the program" and who gets to that creative space.

It's time to create something novel - but what that will be for each person is unique to their own life story and special gifts and talents.

Nothing compels us however. We are set free for the sake of freedom to freely love as we are loved.

Humor and the desire to love and be loved - that's what I find in the sacred space.

It's not about what we're opposed to however, even though it might have had something to do with that at first.

The creative and humorous act is as likely to involve the transformation or changing of the self as it will any aspect of the outer world, and then
the outer will begin to undergo transformation of it's own accord since the state or condition is the first/last cause out of which all creativity
flows (in the space of absolute freedom with awareness).

It's a type of spiritual and formative alchemy in a way, whereby the whole cit and caboodle is under transformation with some among us being "the
mother of the messianic age"!

Brilliant presentation NewAgeMan. A smile is something that appears naturally on the features of a liberated individual, it issues from the smile that
has taken residence in one's own heart.

Sadly some if not most readers will want to shoot you down rather than admit to sharing a yearning to find the freedom that you write of because
they don't think it is really possible and they fear that they will be hurt if they try to reach for it.

They don't understand that hurt is part and parcel of getting there and that all things pass except the final goal, freedom. No amount of suffering
or pain is too high a price for freedom from life's toils. If only they could understand that.

Once they've had a taste however, having been thrown off-balance for a full immersion baptism in the waters of the collective consciousness, and
emerging, still intact - then they can be posed the question - "What amount of sorrow and suffering would you endure for the sake of love?"

Something deep within ourselves, which we have largely hidden away, does not want us to undergo transformation because it's convinced that such a
thing represents it's death, when all the while that very darkness is the source of all our humor in the new light of absolute liberation where
absolute liberation is also absolute forgiveness..

Something in our minds and in our strongly held egoic projection of the self would like to avoid at all cost encountering the mind of Christ, and
that's hilarious, in hindsight, from the POV of the mind of Christ, once encountered.

Bring on the seething ferocious sneers, bring it on, let's have it, and for those who will and who have the courage, prepare to allow yourself to be
thrown off-balance and be either baptized or at least to be troubled by this thread's content, may it trouble you and disturb you until you become
astonished and laugh out loud in an epiphany at the expense of that which was absurd and ridiculous (inauthentic self).

I wish that people might recognize the terrible loss of humor, and how that humor might be restored authentically in the form of a standard of a
severe Justice met only by it's tender Mercy, because if that has been upheld even in the face of the most absurd injustices, then everything that
makes up the very best of the best has been held in reserve, for the last who are first, who went last to be first to be last to be first etc etc.

Most people are probably just afraid of appearing foolish nothing more, the poor dears.

I feel something positive in your words and intentions, but I have to disagree when it comes to the sacred space.

The scared space, from my point of view, cannot be desire of love, because that would imply that there is a LACK of love and to me, the sacred space
feels like Peace and Calmness not searching but the place where all is well and calm.

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